Electric meter.



R. C. LANPHIER. ELECTRIC METER,

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2a, 1905.

@l 0,548. Patented Jan. .26, 1909.

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- upon the driving disk. `i() ROBERT C. LANPHIER, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS,

ASSIGNOR TO SANGMO ELEOTRIO COM- PANY, OF SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

nrsc'rnrc Meren.

Specification. of LettersPatent.

Application filed August 23,

Patented Jen. 26 1909. 1905. sereinement To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT O. LANPH'IER, a'citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the'county of Sangamon, in the State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful'improvements in Electric Meters, of which the following is la full and complete description, reference being had. to the accompanying drawings. My invention relates to electric meters of the iuid contact or so-called .mercury motor type, in which the rotating element or armature is submerged in mercury contained in a suitablechamber, and'c'arries the main current passing to the load to be measf ured and which have a shunt energizing iield or fields with the, coils connected across the circuitin such relation' as to produce a eld proportionate to the. pressure; upon the. circuit. 'Ihe reaction between such pressure' iield and `the main load current passing through' the `armature 'produces rotation, according to welhknown and established principles.

' The principal object of my invention is. to produce a true Watt-hour meter for either direct or alternating currents instead of an ampere-hour meter and this object, broadl speaking, iseflected by reducing to .a mini-V 30 mum the damping effect of thefshunt driving- -eld without. pro ortionately .reducing the -`torque, and by tiie 'use oan independent metallic damping disk with a permanent magnet or ma nets acting upon it in 'such a. way that the damping eflect of the magnets upon the said independent' damping disk will be very muchgreater than the damping effect produced by the shunt energizing coils,

Iieretofore, metersv of this general character, in which the'shunt energizing coils both o crate to drive the disk, and also to brake t 1e disk to prevent toorapid rotation, while working mainedconstant, were inaccurate when there was'a change of voltage. 'I his is due to the fact that Whereas with the changeof voltage the driving power varies directly as the voltage, the 'braking power, or the damping effect, caused by the interaction of' thel eny ergizi-ng :fieldsv and the Foucault or eddy currents produced in the damping disk therebyfs-'varies as .the square of the current. In my improved meter, as hereinafter de- SJIQ Used, nearly tu, 'duced b little value for k.viding such a accurately so long as the voltage re'-v scribed, theexternal damping disk with its magnetic eld is so arranged as to produce a damping effect from four to ive times greater than ythedamping effect of the shunt field, and by thismeans for a variation of ten per cent. of voltage, the error would be reduced from abouty ten percent. to an' error of about one and a half to. two per cent. Another advantage of this large external damping effect is to greatly reduce the natural error in the load s eed curve upon heavy loads, due tol the i which, in most types of to be compensated for. l

' en used'in an alternating current meter, the shunt driving held. has very little damp` ing effect, and incase-.no permanentmagnets; thefet'ardation is; ,y mercury: ffuid friction. The @ad speed curve, therefore, falls oii rapidlyv4 on in creasing the load, making such a meter of practical purposes. By pro.-

meter, however, with a ower-.

ful externaldamping iield, the` spec is reduced by this means so greatly in proportion to the retardation vcaused by the mercury' Afriction, that the load speed curveis straight.

uid friction of the rnercury',` mercury meters, has;

cned out, andthe error is a very small one throughout its entire. range;

Another object cmy invention isto prof. duce anew;- and improved armature, which, although formed thevolume-oi the-'Foucault or eddyfcurrents 'and the consequent-damping eect, is socon;4

of very thin metal toreduce structed` aste iioat. up the' spindle and`ate.

tached brake ldisli soas to produce a minimum of friction.

Other objects of my invention are improve' ments in electric meters ofthe type describedV in sundry details,in the manner hereinafter pointed out.

' .I accomplish these objects by means ofthe mechanism hereinafter described.

What I consider as new mthe claims.

e' drawings z-Figure l is a side eleva-l will be pointed out tion,' lfpartly in vertical section, of my im provements as applied'to a direct current meter. Fig. 2 is a modification, showing' another form of my improved driving disk showing a modiiied form of dislrsection.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation ofnny meter as used. upon an alternating current:

Referring'to the drawingsivkindicate l two portions of the casing formed of nonmagnetic and referably ot insulating material and joine together so as to form a shallow circular chamber 6 between them.

7 indicates contacts which pierce the' walls of the casing 5 and are adapted to be c'onnected with the circuit 8. t

9 indicates an electro-magnet, preferably formed of laminated plates with its poles entering the base of the casing 5 at a suitable distance upon each side of the center thereof. The magnet 9 is energized by shunt coil 10 into which is interposed a suitable resistance 11, which operates-in the usual manner and for the usual purpose.

12 indicates a few turns of compound series winding upon the magnet 9, connected in series w itqh the armature so as to carry the main load current which passes through the armature.

13 indicates an iron or steel plate which is inserted into the top portion 4 of the casing, yand whose under surface forms the greater part of the up er surface of the mercury chamber 6, an which forms a return path for'the magnetic lines of force proceeding from pole to pole of the magnet 9. The rcturn piece 13 is provided with a central cir' cular opening for the admission of the parts hereinafter describedi Y 14 indicates a chamber in the top of the casing piece 4 which slopes downward to a narrow central opening at its bottom, and which is closed at the top by the cap 15.

16 indicates a downwardly projecting sleeve secured to the cap 15, and projecting ,a suitable distance downward into the chamber 14. Its lower end is drawn together, and supports a pierced jewel 17, having an-opening just sufficient to permit thc passage through it of thel spindle hereinafter de i scribed.

18 indicates a spindle, which, for thepur^ poses ofconvenience ofconstruction, is preferahly constructed of two parts, the squared upper end of the lower one inserted into a corresponding opening in the lower end of the upper member, and which is journaled at its lower end in a bearing 19 inserted into the 'lower part 5 of the casing, and centrally located with reference to the chamber 6.

2O indicates a conical. cap which is secured with the large end downward upon the spindle 15 within the chamber 14, and below the sleeve 16, and is designed in c'ase the 'meter is upset or severely jostlcd to prevent the mercury from flowing down the shaft of the spindle 18 and out through the pierced jewel 17.

21 indicates a worm which is connected with anysuitable recording train, which, being of any approved form of well-known con struction, is not shown.

22 indicates the armature or driving disk which is mounted upon the spindle 18 so as to revolve within the chamber 6. The disk 22 is preferably made of copper, and is very thin, being made of no greaterthickness than will be suliicicnt to transmit the load current which asses through the circuit, and to maintain the requisite rigidity in said chamber.` As a general direction, I have found that in a meter adapted to measure alfull load current of ten amperes, a thickness of fifteen tho'usandths of an inch in .al disk 2.2 to 2,4 inches in diameter is a proper proportion. The main part of the-chamber 6 within which ythe disk 22 rotates, is also made very shallow. yThedriving disk 22 is also thoroughly amal gamated to reduce, as far as possible, the mercury friction, but will work properly if only the periphery and a narrow rim are amalgamated, the flat faces being suitably insulated in such case'. 1t will be obvious lthat with a disk of such relative thinness, the

eddy currents reduced by the shunt energizing field wil be very much less than in av disk of the usual thickness, and the damping effect thereby correspondingly diminis ied.

23 indicates a damping or brake disk formed preferably of copper, or aluminum, and of a 'much greater relative thickness or conductivity than that of the driving disk 2'2.

- The brake disk 23 is secured upon the spindle 18 externally to the casin as shown. With the drivingdisk 'and bra e disk "so formedv and constructed it will be seen that the driving disk will be of relatively high resistance to induced or eddy currents while the brake disk will bc of relatively low resistance to such currents.

24 indicates powerful permanent magnets, which, as shown, are preferably in the form of horse-slice magnets, embracing the disk between their poles. The magnetic field of the magnets 24, and the'brake disk 23, lare so constructed and proportioned in comparison with the driving disk and with the shunt energizing coils. that the braking eHect of theupper disk will be about eighty per cent., andthat of the lower disk about twenty per cent. of the entire braking eflect.

25 indicates. a support which carries a jewel 26, against which the upper end. of the spindle 18 cbears. r

For Athe purpose of leducingfrictionto the minimum, 1t is desirable that the driving disk should he floated u ward inthe mercury contained in the chamlber 6 with a force slightly more than enough to carryl the weight of the spindle and 'external b1aking disk,'so thatthc spindle will press slightly upward against the under surface ofthe jewel 26. As it is obvious that a driving'disk ofsuflicient thinness to reduce the braking elfect'of the energizing coils to the minimum would not have suflicient displacement to float the spindle and external disk upward as above described,

. tion on this float is not suflicient to cause any mit the load-current, and at the same time circuit, a driving disk in said chamber I secure upon the surface of the driving disk 22 a hollow copper fioat 27, which revolves within a central enlargement28 of the chamber 6. 'l his float is made of such size as to secure the proper displacement necessary to float the weight of itself, the attached driving disk, the spindle and the external braking disk slightly upward, and being of relativel small circumference, and being well am gamated, I have found that the mercury fricappreciable error at various load speeds.

Fig. 2 shows a modification of my invention in this respect, in which the disk 22 is formedof two very thin plates. of copper, separated a short distance, and secured together by a ring 29 of some light insulating material, so that the disk is hollow across almost its entire diameter. By this means, sufiicient displacement is secured to produce the proper upward flotation whether the preferred form of the disk shown in Fig. 1, or the modification shown in Fig. 2 is employed, a buoyancy chamber is formed, in the first case by the iioat 27, and in the latter case, by the hollow interior of the disk. 'l his Will enable the disk itself in either case to be made of very thin material only thick enough to transto have sufiicient displacement to support, the Weight of the parts and to produce the slight upward flotation or pressure a ainst the upper jewel 26, as above describec.

Rererring to Fig.3, which shows my device as a plied to an alternating current meter, it Wi l be sufficient to say that the meter is in all respects similarto the meter shown in Fig. llabove described, with the exception that the series coils 12 are omitted, from the magnet 9, and that there is interposed into the shunt circuit l0 a condenser 30, connected in series with the pressure coil l0 for the urpose of bringing the phase of the shunt eld magnetism into zero relation with the impressed electro-motive force. 'In all other respects, the construction of the meter is tle same, and as this method of o eratin Van alternating current meter, and t is mec ianism for operatin the same form no part ofthe invention invo ved in this application, I belie've it is not necessary to show or to describe the same further herein. t

.What I claim as new and desire, to secure by Letters Patent, is r 1. In an electric meter, the combination with a mercury chamber, contacts entering said mercury chamber at each side thereof and adapted to be connected to an electric formed of relatively very thin material, and an energizing electro magnet adapted to be connected 1n shunt relation with said circuit,

. with of a brake disk formed of relatively thick material, and a magnet actingI upon saidl {brake disk., said brake disk and said n1agnetie field having a vrelatively very high damping effect, substantially as described.

' 2. In an electric meter, the combination a casing, a mercury chamber in said easing, contacts entering said chamber upon oppositesides thereof and adapted to be, connected to an electric circuit, a spindle entering said casing, a driving disk'mounted on said spindle in said chamber and formed of relatively very thin material, and an en-v ergizing electro magnet adapted to act upon said driving disk and connected in shunt relation with said circuit, of a brake disk mounted on said spindle external to said chamber and formed of relatively thick material, and a magnet acting on said brake disk, said brake disk and said magnet' hav-- ing a very high .damping effect as compared with that of the driving disk and its energizing field, substantially as described.

3. In a mercury electric meter, the combination with a casing, a shallow mercury chamber in said casing having a central enlargement, eontacts entering said chamber upon each side thereof and adapted to be connected with an electric circuit, and an energizing electro magnet connected in shunt relation with said circuit, of a spindle passing through said casing and journaled therein, a driving disk of relatively thin metal secured/to said spindle in said chamber, a hollow cylindrical oat secured tosaid driving disk concentric therewith, a

brake disk mounted on said spindle external to said chamber formed of material, 'and a permanent magnet adapted to act upon said brake disk, said brake disk and magnet having a relatively very high damping effect as compared with that of said driving vdisk and its energizing field, substantially as described.

4. In a mercury electric meter, the ccmbination with a casing, a mercury chamber in said casing, mercury chamber connected restricted opening, second chamber, and

thereto by a a cover plate for said a sleeve projecting into said second chamber, of a spindle journaled in said sleeve and in said casin disk on said spindle in said cham er carrying the main current, a damping disk mounted on said spindle external to said mercury chamber, a bearing for the upper end of said spindle, and means on said driving disk for producing a slight upward thrustv of the rotating elements, substantially as described.

5. n a mercury electric meter, the com bination with a casing, a mercury chamber in said casing, a second chamber above said mercury chamber connected therewith by a restricted opening, a cover plate for said second chamber, and a sleeve projecting into said second chamber, of .a spindle relatively thick.

a second chamberabove said a driving journaled in said sleeve and in said casing, a driving disk on`said spindle in said chamber carrying the main current, a d/am ing disk mounted on said spindle externa to said mercury chamber, a bearing for the u per endy of said spindle, and a float onsaid riving disk immersed in the mercury and adapted to produce a slight upward thrust of the rotating elements against the upper` bearing, substantially as described Y ROBERT C. LANPHIER. Witnesses:

GEO. O. BUNN, GEORGE A. BATES. 

